Have you ever tried a new product expecting it to be difficult but found it simple? Or how about the opposite? — using something that should be easy but isn’t. In the latter case, the product wasn’t designed with an understanding of how you think. Design intuitiveness is determined by the difference between how you […]
Seven years ago I hired a business coach to help me through a difficult time in my career. I had started 3.7 Designs five years prior. What was a part-time passion project quickly became full-time. When a book deal landed in my lap I was unable to manage the many directions in which I was […]
Being a designer means channeling your soul into bringing something new into the world… only to have a group of strangers tear it — and your self worth — apart. Critiques are an unwavering part of any designer’s life and are easily the worst part of the job. Formally educated designers leave the womb of […]
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry once said, “Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” While Antoine’s message was about writing it very much applies to design. The benefits of minimal design are numerous, but most importantly with everything unnecessary stripped away all the focus […]
If you’ve done your job during the sales process, you’ll have a solid understanding of what you’re building when a project kick offs. Knowing what is important, but there is still more to learn before you can actually start designing. Finding the right design approach requires a unique line of questions. We’re always evolving our […]
Usability discussions are plagued with self-reflection. Designers assess how obvious something is by putting themselves in the user’s shoes. The notion behind this practice is if it’s obvious to you, then it must be for the user as well. This approach contains two fundamental flaws: It provides a false sense you’re designing with usability in […]
Usability and investments are alike in the sense you get what you give. Very few design projects have an unlimited budget, so resources have to be distributed based on priority. Prioritizing usability over other design layers ultimately results in greater returns. Additionally, usability returns are multifaceted. Where other layers have the potential to affect revenue, […]
WordPress was originally built for blogging. Eventually it evolved into a content management system. Now, many say its future is an application framework. It’s now quick and easy to assemble rich functionality using structured data, user management, and integrations with other platforms. There have been many discussions about using WordPress for consumer targeted applications, but […]
WordPress has several handy functions for granular control over external assets. Specifically wp_enqueue_script(), wp_register_script(), wp_enqueue_style(), wp_register_style(). These functions allow us to register assets so they’re available and can be added to the page where applicable. While these functions give a fair amount of control, if you have a complex site you can end up repeating […]
Some designers treat usability as a series of checklists, assuming usability is no more than including the right elements. Usability isn’t that cut and dry. It’s true that using conventions will improve usability, but there are bigger factors at play. Design is usable when it’s created with an understanding of how users think. Usability isn’t […]